Administrative Law

Catalog description

The Constitution suggests that Congress, the President, and the courts govern in the United States. In reality, however, we live in the administrative state : individuals and firms (and, thus, most clients) are most immediately and significantly affected not by the actions of Congress, courts, or the President, but rather by those of administrative agencies. This course will introduce the institutions, procedures, and theories of the administrative state. We will explore the constitutional foundations of the modern administrative state, the authority of the president to dictate or influence agency activity, congressional oversight of agencies, the procedural and substantive constraints on agency rulemaking and adjudication, and the scope and availability of judicial review of agency action. In the background throughout will be questions of regulatory policy, i.e. the justifications for and tools of government regulation.